Indian Wildlife Club Forum

On December1, 2005 the Union Cabinet gave its approval to the revised Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill.

One of the major changes in the final Bill is that the ambiguity in cut off date for determining tribal rights over land has been removed and October 25, 1980, has been made the cut-off date.

The second major change pertains to rights of tribals in national parks and sanctuaries. Tribal inhabitants would be given provisional pattas with a clear caveat that they could be relocated. "They would have right to acreage but not to land."

The third deviation is that forest officials would be involved at every stage in the process of granting land rights to tribals. Non-tribal forest dwellers will be settled according to the settlement rules of the environment and forests ministry.

There is no change in the long list of forest rights given to tribals as well as the provision that the right conferred shall be heritable but not alienable or transferable. Similarly, there is no change as far as duties -most concerning conservation of flora and fauna-of the holder of forest rights are concerned.

The Grameen Sanchar Sewak (GSS) scheme, kickstarted by BSNL and the Department of Posts in 2002, is ready to be regularised and go national.

The GSS scheme, which began with the idea of employing rural postmen to carry mobile phones from door-to-door in 12,001 villages, has tapped into the 7,000-strong network of self-employed people that Grasso( Grameen Sanchar Society)-a non-governmental organization -uses to carry phones to far-flung locations. 

Grasso-subsidized by BSNL for the gSS scheme- has provided mobile reach to 93% of West Bengal's 34 blocks.  They are now planning Common Service Centres(CSCs) in the State's 3,357 gram panchayats.  The CSCs are to be a hu for about 20 services, ranging from electriity bill payment, tea and coffee to commodity trading, warehousing and cold storage. 

The Cabinet on 16/12/05 approved the constitution of a National Tiger Conservation Authority.

Contrary to rising hopes and expectations that the Prime Minister will head the Tiger Conservation Authority, it is the Environment Minister who will head the authority.

The Authority will get statutory and administrative powers to implement the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force.

The topic for our monthly chat on 18December 2005 was "Tiger Task Force Report".

You can read the chat transcript at the following link

http://www.indianwildlifeclub.com/mainsite/ChatTranscript.asp

Those of you who missed the chat, are welcome to write your comments in this blog.

The Tiger Task Force has submitted its report. The report brings out some glaring facts. Read the report at this link

http://projecttiger.nic.in/TTF2005/contents.htm

"In the last 30 years, only 80-odd villages have been relocated from all 28 reserves. There are another 1,500 existing inside, of which 250 are within core areas of tiger reserves, which must be relocated. Relocating them will cost Rs 660 crore at the minimum, in terms of the meager relocation package government works with today, and without accounting for land costs. If this is taken into account, then the estimated cost is Rs 11,000 crore. "

What is suggested is a time-bound programme to identify those villages that must be relocated because  they are located inside crucial tiger habitats. It is also suggested that, unlike the past, this relocation must be done speedily and sensitively, "with careful consideration of the needs of people."

The chair person also says that if we do not make peace with the communities who share the tigers’ home, we will lose the war of conservation tiger by tiger.

Identifying the cause for a crisis situation is certainly the first step towards a solution. Let us think solutions now! How can we have the communities become stakeholders in tourism for example? Any suggestions?

The Orissa government has objected to the construction of the Polavaram project on the ground that the 150 ft high dam will submerge several villages and agricultural lands in that State and displace hundreds of tribal families and others. T

The Orissa Chief Minister has addressed letters to the A.P Chief Minister resenting the latter’s decision to go ahead with the execution of the project without consulting Orissa. The letter to the Central Water Commission expresses ire at the clearances given without referring them to his government.

It is understood that construction has started based on a 1980 interstate agreement signed by the three riparian states-Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. In the intervening 25 years the cost of rehabilitation and resettlement would have gone up considerably. A meeting between the two Chief Ministers is likely to settle the issue politically.

The report prepared by the NWDA(National Water Development Agency) on the 174km Polvarm link,  is available at the following link ( Please cut and paste in your browser)

http://nwda.gov.in/index3.asp?sublink2id=12

Chapter 14 of the report talks about the environmental and ecological impact of the project. The Polavaram reservoir submerges an area of 63,691 ha comprising of 60,063 ha in Andhra Pradesh, 2,398 ha in Chattisgarh and 1,230 ha in Orissa. Out of the total submergence area, the area under cultivation is about 30,650 ha and the forest area 3,705 ha. It is obvious that the project involves the displacement of a huge agricultural population most of them from Andhra.

To quote the report

"The main purpose of the Polavaram project is to provide water for irrigation to the ayacut upstream of the Godavari barrage, to supply drinking water to the Visakhapatnam steel plant and also to provide water to the chronic drought prone Cheepurupalle tract in which the manganese belt is situated ...........

"Submergence of forest area may have environmental and ecological impact: Proper Environmental Management Plan (EMP) will be evolved to reduce the impact on the environment due to the project. Also, to minimise the loss of forest additional afforestation programme will be taken up. Necessary provision has been made in the estimate for compensatory afforestation".

"The prospects of submergence leading to loss of homes and means of sustenance will have a traumatic effect on the affected population. The problems relating to resettlement and rehabilitation (R & R) are quite complex. It is essential that the contents of R & R package should be very attractive".

"A total of 16207 families are likely to be affected due to creation of Polavaram reservoir. These families would need to be resettled in different villages in the nearby areas. To avoid dispute and problems, the selection of suitable agricultural land in the command area and its division into required sizes and its distribution by draw of lot with the control of a High Level Committee comprising senior officers of concerned departments should be performed. In the case of Polavaram-Vijayawada link project, 30650 ha of culturable area is coming under the submergence of the proposed reservoir at Polavaram. Therefore, at least an equivalent area of land has to be acquired, suitably in the command area of the project for encouraging to carry out the normal agricultural activities by the affected families".

Susan

I am not sure I would be in favour of reducing the number of people "dependent" on the Farm. One thing about a Farm is that it provides for the ability to grow "personal use" crops and hence the required nutrition and a very high degree of self-esteem. I would not want to be in the situation of my grandfather who had to see his family disperse because the Farm could not support the family.

You can get the GDP and the Per Capita figures to be whatever you want. I am not sure if there is a value in the GDP for "3 meals a day for the family" as opposed to homeless existence in the "City".

Multi-Media enabled cyber-cafe in a village sounds like a good idea for providing the environment for knowledge transfer. Instead of just looking for cyber-cafe entrepreneurs, perhaps we should also look at small trades people who would support the "machineary of the Farm and village".

Regards

After the discovery of hundreds of new species of frogs in the rainforests of SriLanka in 2002, it is the turn of the rainforests of Borneo to come up with surprises.

WWF researchers may have discovered a new, mysterious carnivore species in Borneo. The animal, a mammal slightly larger than a domestic cat with dark red fur and a long, bushy tail, was photographed twice by a camera trap at night.

Read more on this at the following link ( please cut and paste in your browser)

 http://panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=52960